Anyone know if Breast cancer jumping into the bones goes through the lymph system?
Unfortunately, every case I've had personal awareness of that begins with "the cancer came back" or "the cancer spread" has always ended badly. Seems like once metastasis occurs, it portends a very aggressive disease.
I do respect John Edwards for putting family ahead of personal ambition. I sincerely hope I can revise my personal experience to reflect knowing someone who survived "the cancer came back."
It probably first gets into the lymphatics - the fluid in the lymphatic system eventually drains into the blood stream in the region of the left collarbone - but tumor generally spreads to the bones by way of the bloodstream.
Breast cancer likes to spread to the bones; it can sometimes be very indolent there, but it can also be very aggressive. Usually it gets treated with hormonal therapy if the tumor makes estrogen or progesterone receptors (if her tumor did, she would probably already have been on one of these medicines, such as Tamoxifen, but would now be changed to a new hormonal agent, such as an aromatase inhibitor) and with bisphosphonates, agents which stabilize the bone from destruction, such as Zometa. Radiation therapy may also be used for locally destructive lesions, and chemo may be employed, depending on what prior therapy she's had, and where else the disease is.